Pages

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Teachers are Terrorists and Corporate Shills

Politicians
are notorious for saying stupid, embarrassing and downright insulting and
hurtful things in the quest to promote their political agendas. Michael
Bloomberg’s recent comparison of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) to the
National Rifle Association (NRA) ranks right up there with some of the
stupidest—but here are a few other ditties (just in case you missed them):

“It’s
typical of Congress, it’s typical of unions, it’s typical of companies, I
guess, where a small group is really carrying the ball and the others aren’t
necessarily in agreement. . . The N.R.A. is another place where the membership,
if you do the polling, doesn’t agree with the leadership.” (NY
Times)

The
comparison is grotesque and offensive because it likens teachers—who see
themselves as defenders of childhood innocence and purity (e.g., Sandy Hook) to
gun nuts and corporate shills—who are seen by many as the defenders of
psychotic, murderous rampages (e.g., Sandy Hook). Yet if we ignore the
offensiveness of Bloomberg’s statement, perhaps substitute AMA or Bar
Association for NRA, one can see that there is some truth to Bloomberg’s
comments. Most unions are like these organizations in that they invest heavily
in lobbying, buying politicians and attempting to buy legislation. It is true
that rank and file union members are often alienated from and disagree with their
leadership. And it is true that the leadership of unions often put their own
needs, interests and agenda above those of their members.